Death of Maya Angelou felt in Carnation City

It's not often that the death of a poet who never visited the Carnation City garners a reaction from the community, but Maya Angelou was not your average poet.

Although many remember her as a writer, Angelou's career was varied and revealed many talents.

According to her website, mayaangelou.com, Angelou's career began at the age of 14 as the first female African-American cable car conductor in San Francisco.

From there, Angelou served as a reporter for The Arab Observer, acted in "Porgy and Bess," and appeared in "Roots," to name a few of her many jobs.

She would go on to receive many national honors, including three Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize nomination, 50 honorary degrees, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, and The Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the Literary Community in 2013.

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At the time of her death, Angelou was the Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.

Angelou's death was met with sadness and reflection by community members.

Gwen Dunagan described Angelou as someone who "will certainly be missed throughout the nation and the world."

"She was a civil rights activist, a magnificent poet, and a gentle soul," Dunagan added. "Her poetry touched all people. You will find yourself in her poetry."

Michelle Collins-Sibley, who serves as the chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary and Liberal Studies, director of Africana studies and professor of English at the University of Mount Union, called Angelou's death a "great loss."

"It's a very powerful and empowering statement about women who, in this culture, are not appreciated for their beauty, and couples the notion of their beauty with empowerment," she clarified.

Collins-Sibley went on to point out that Angelou challenged cultural ideas about beauty with her own physical appearance.

"Aside from the beauty of her words, she was an arresting physical presence. She herself didn't fit the culturally accepted notion of beauty, but she asserted herself as beautiful anyway. She shifted our perspective by her very presence and through her words," Collins-Sibley explained.

Rodman Public Library Director Pat Stone also felt that Angelou shifted cultural expectations by changing the way subjects like race, gender and sexuality are handled in literature.

Stone pointed to Angelou's famous 1969 autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" as particularly influential because it dealt with Angelou's own rape and teenage pregnancy at a time when such issues were only just beginning to be discussed.

"She tackled all of that in one book and did it so well," Stone added.

Stone described Angelou as a writer who was able to reach readers about such difficult topics because her writing was not only easy to read, but believable.

"She (Angelou) forced us to look at the life of an African-American in the South, and forced us to then look at ourselves and our culture," Stone elaborated. "She was a woman of great integrity who told her story, told it well, and helped us all learn from it."

Rodman Public Library and its branch library will have displays of Angelou's work in honor of her passing.

Stone encourages patrons to revisit Angelou's work or to try picking it up for the first time as a fitting tribute to the author.